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A Free Weekly Publication Serving All of Beaver County Wednesday,February April 19,16 2023, Volume 16,15 Issue 16 7 Wednesday 2022 Volume Issue
County budget and tax rates up for approval Patricia Harcourt Beaver County’s 2023 operating budget and mill rate bylaw is up for approval at this week’s regular council meeting April 19. Ryan Arndt, general manager of corporate services and Ethan Forrest, municipal intern, presented the information to council. The Governance and Priorities Committee (GPC) met April 4 to discuss the second draft of this year’s operating budget, which was fine tuned from the interim operating budget passed in December. The GPC meeting resulted in administration being directed to prepare a mill rate bylaw with a 2.5 per cent increase in the mill rate, and the increases required for the BESC and Police Funding. “This mill rate increase is in response to inflationary costs, budget alignment to council’s strategic priorities, and an anticipated decline in the assessment base once the provincial government adjusts how non-residential properties are assessed,” stated the report to council. “Administration recommends being proactive with the mill rate increases in order to mitigate the need for large increases once this assessment change comes into effect,” explained the report, adding that some of this funding from the gradual increase in mill rates would go into reserves for use in 2026 when the assessment review is expected to be completed. Council is considering a budget with expenditures of $29,138,024 for this year. The revenue sources of user fees, reserves and grants totalled #$13,437,600, which left $15,700,424
from which taxes would be needed from property owners in the county. Once approved, the county will provide budget highlights in various communications formats for the public. The county’s taxable assessment base has increased over the previous year by $65 million across all categories. Of this amount, $11.5 million is taxable growth and $53.3 million is inflation on all properties. Leading this growth is the Acreage Residential category at $9.6 million. Machinery and Equipment has the only significant reduction at $2.6 million. The report to council stated: “Inflation increased all categories with Acreage Residential increasing $21.2 million and Farm Residential increasing $13.5 million.” In its synopsis of ongoing concerns, the report stated: “We saw a major increase in assessment due to property value inflation and cannot rely on this for the future.” Other concerns included uncertain grant funding with this the final year for the Municipal Sustainability Initiative program, capital and operating. “We know that the overall pool of money will likely be significantly smaller in the upcoming years and little is known about the allocation formula,” stated Arndt and Forrest. Another source of uncertainty was the oil and gas assessment issue. “The province is in the middle of conducting a review of the oil and gas assessment,” said the report. “It is uncertain what this will mean to municipalities but worst case scenario it could be a signifi-
Debate will determine projects for Claystone dividends John Mather Beaver County will debate its 2023 final budget on April 19, and at that time Reeve Kevin Smook said some decisions on how to spend the County’s windfall dividend from Claystone Waste Ltd. will be discussed. Claystone made its annual dividends distributions to its member municipal shareholders recently and Beaver County was given $1,407,106 which it can spend however it feels. Claystone gave $3 million in total to its munici-
pal shareholders which worked to about $300 per person in Beaver County, Tofield, Ryley, Holden and Viking. “The funding we received can help with several programs throughout Beaver County,” said Smook. “However until our budget is passed, nothing is set in stone.” He said potential uses for the funds were the Community Support Grant Program, a contribution to the Tofield Agricultural Society’s Arena renovations, road construction, campgrounds and more.
cant loss for the county.” Roads, bridges, and equipment are major assets that are aging and will need repairs and/or replacing in the future. Plus, the county needs to find a long-term sustainable gravel supply for road maintenance purposes. Also cited were inflationary pressures: “The last year demonstrated that inflation is a major factor on our municipality and it is difficult to predict the rate of inflation from one year to the next.” With a provincial election at the end of May, the county expects this will result in changes in policy and funding afterwards, depending on who wins. A human resources review is currently underway that could affect the budget once completed in the near future. As for the Mill Rate Bylaw, it was reported that the county’s assessment base increase “mitigated the impact of this year’s mill rate increase.” The report cites the following mill rate increases, once all other mill rates are included: - 2.78 per cent increase on residential properties; - 2.60 per cent increase on Farmland properties; - 2.41 per cent increase on Non-residential properties; - 2.39 per cent increase on Small business properties. Under financial implications, it was stated that “landowners could expect an increase in their taxes of 2.60 per cent to 2.78 per cent, subject to changes in individual assessments.” If passed at the April 19 council meeting, the tax roll will be prepared and assessment and tax notices printed by mid-May.
The Ryley Museum Society will be holding its AGM at the Ryley Legion Hall
Wednesday, May 3rd @ 10AM. We are looking for new people to take care of old things! If you have ideas, come and join us! Please attend!
For more info call Kathy 780-270-8652
